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First light was obtained 06.29.05 after a quick setup on the same
day I took delivery of the mount. The results proved why the
Paramount ME has earned its reputation and were well beyond my
expectations.
Click here for 100%
resolution image.
Consistency in Guiding
The first test was a 30 X 300 second exposure of M27 at
an unbinned image scale of 0.55 arc-seconds per pixel imaged on both
sides of the meridian. The following is a graph of the on-axis FWHM
shot through the Celestron C9.25 for each of the 30 sub-exposures:
FWHM (Arc-Seconds) 30 X 300 Second Calibrated FITS
files (Mira AP Pro).
Overall Results
To my surprise, 19 out of 30 of sub-exposures measured under 2.00
FWHM. The highest FWHM was 2.25" and the lowest was 1.73". The
consistency between all of the exposures was the best I have ever
seen in any of my acquisition runs. The mount was very stable
despite changing wind and humidity conditions.
The final luminance image was aligned, and combined using Mira AP
Pro. The following is a Radial Profile Graph of the same star
measured above from the combined image. The graph is in pixels, so
to convert to arc-seconds we multiply by .55. The final FWHM for 2.5
hours of exposure resulted 1.91 arc-seconds. The small variance from
the Gaussian profile is due to the fact that my OTA was slightly out
of collimation.
Radial Profile of 2.5 Hours of Exposure = 1.91 Arc
Seconds
Acquisition Details
This was a very quick test as it was the first day out of the box
for the mount. Many advanced features of the Paramount ME were not
used. The following outlines some of the details of my acquisition
and guiding settings.
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TheSky6 Version 6.0.0.35
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CCDSoft5 Version 5.00.156
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FocusMax Version 3.2.6
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CCDAutoPilot2 Version 2.22
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Camera Relays Used for Auto-Guiding
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Imaged on both sides of the Meridian with no
recalibration.
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Min Move was set to .048 seconds (or +/- 0.5
arc-seconds based on image scale)
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Aggressiveness was set to 9
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Guide rate was set to .5X sidereal
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ProTrack was *not* used as I did not have a
T-Point Model
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PE was corrected to 0.9" by PEMPro
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Mount was 1.5 Arc-minutes North and 2.0
Arc-minutes East of the Refracted Pole.
Conclusions
I had very high expectations of the Paramount ME before
it arrived; it surpassed all of them. What really surprised me was
the constancy of guiding and lack of backlash on both sides of the
Meridian. My best effort with the C9.25 had been a two hour image
with a final FWHM of 2.4". My first night out with the ME produced
2.5 hours with a FWHM of 1.91". The image was so sharp that for the
first time, I did not use any Photoshop sharpening or blurring to
enhance the image detail. Signal to noise gets very good under 2
arc-seconds. (2 iterations of CCDSharp were used on the image before
importing into Photoshop).
The final conclusion. Better tracking and guiding
creates sharper, noise free images. The Paramount ME delivers on all
fronts!
I would like to thank John Smith of Hidden Loft
Observatory for his advice and wisdom regarding setup and wiring of
the Paramount ME. I would also like to thank him for nagging me for
over a year to get one. I sure wish he had paid for it. ;)
Richard Bennion
Ewell Observatory |
